


Memories

by Pappels (SabakuNoKel)



Category: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Break Up, Canon-Typical Violence, Eye Trauma, First Meetings, Getting Together, M/M, Major Character Injury, Minor Character Death, Post-Break Up, Wakes & Funerals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:42:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25945282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SabakuNoKel/pseuds/Pappels
Summary: A collection of snapshots in the lives of Rek'yr and SkekMal, for the brief period they were intertwined
Relationships: Rek'yr/skekMal (Dark Crystal)
Kudos: 16





	Memories

Rek'yr tried not to blink in surprise at the intimidating creature before him. What was a Lord of the Crystal Palace doing all the way out here on the border of the Desert?

“I seek a guide to lead me on a Hunt. You will take me across the desert.” The giant before him gruffed, bright jade eyes staring down at him from behind a mask of bone.

“What do you hunt, my Lord?” The Dousan did not revere the Skeksis as the other Clans did but Rek'yr knew better than to refuse a request, an order really, from a Lord.

“Worthwhile prey. Hunting in the Dark Forest has grown stale and predictable so I seek a challenge elsewhere.”

This at least was familiar territory, Rek'yr had transported outsiders across the Desert before but never one as... unique as the one that stands before him now.

“If it is a challenge you seek the Desert holds many; packs of Rakkida, venomous Stabbers, peeper beetles, sandsnakes, and probably the fiercest of them all, giant pitsharks. Though I would not recommend taking on a pitshark by yourself, even a Lord of the Crystal cannot match their strength.”

The Lord's eyes narrowed. “You do not decide my prey, Dousan. Now show me the secret paths across the sands so that I might hunt one of these pitsharks.” The giant demanded.

Rek'yr tipped his head.

“Yes, my Lord.”

As they set off on their journey Rek'yr said a silent prayer in the event that this should be his last day on Thra.

–

“Don't tell me you're scared, Hunter?” Rek'yr couldn't help but smile from his perch atop his loyal Crystal Skimmer.

“I fear nothing!” SkekMal growled, making no move to climb the rungs Rek'yr had tossed down for him.

“And yet you remain on the ground.” Rek'yr pointed out.

The Hunter glared up at him, tail swishing in the sand in agitation.

Rek'yr sighed.

“Your hunting grounds can not be reached on foot, Hunter. If you wish to pursue your prey you will need to let Bennu carry you.”

He saw the Hunter's eyes narrow at the thought of not getting to hunt his chosen prey yet still he did not climb up.

Rek'yr thought he knew why the Hunter was so reluctant to get on the Crystal Skimmer. SkekMal always had relied on his own strength and skills to keep himself safe but in the air he was entirely dependent on Rek'yr's ability to control Bennu and keep them from plummeting to their deaths.

Rek'yr gentled his voice. “I won't let you fall off, Hunter. I swear it.”

For a moment SkekMal appeared surprised by his words then his usual rough demeanor returned and he growled.

“I don't need the help of a Gelfling!” SkekMal said, grabbing the rungs of the ladder and finally climbing on.

Rek'yr waited until the Hunter sat down, looking ill at ease as Bennu's whole body shuddered as she took a deep breath, before grabbing the reins. “As you say, my Lord. Let's go, Bennu.”

–

“Rek'yr.”

Rek'yr glanced up at the now familiar rumble of the Hunter.

“Hunter. Back so soon?”

“What are you doing?”

Rek'yr looked down at the pile of small bones and beads in his lap. “I'm crafting a charm for protection out of moog bones.”

SkekMal snorted. “How are the bones of such a weak little creature going to protect you? You should be making trophies out of better prey.”

Rek'yr rolled his eyes fondly. Leave it to the Hunter to underestimate a creature just because it looked small and defenseless when in fact a moog's hard shell was almost impossible to crack, protecting it from the much stronger and larger predators that roamed the desert.

Instead of explaining this Rek'yr just turned back to the charm in his hands as he tied the last bone into place. The charm was a bit on the short side as he didn't have that many bones to work with and while he'd originally intended for it to be worn as a necklace now he thought it would be better suited as a bracelet.

“Give me your hand.”

SkekMal narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why?”

“Don't you trust me?” Rek'yr said, brow raised in challenge.

SkekMal said nothing but just when he thought the Hunter wasn't going to comply SkekMal held out his hand, those bright jade eyes watching him intently.

Rek'yr grabbed the Hunter's hand and pushed up his sleeve, fingers brushing against his skin as he tied the charm around his wrist.

SkekMal's claw twitched.

“There, now you'll be protected.” Rek'yr declared as he released the Hunter's hand.

SkekMal peered at the charm, turning his wrist this way and that before huffing.

“My claws and blades have kept me safe for many thrine, I doubt your little charm will offer much protection.”

Despite his gruff SkekMal didn't remove the charm.

–

“Hold still.” Rek'yr said harshly.

“Don't tell me what to— _Ow!_ ”

“This wouldn't hurt if you would just. _Hold. Still._ ” Rek'yr said as he pressed the bloody cloth to the Hunter's face.

Sometimes even Rek'yr forgot how quickly things could go wrong when one let their guard down in the Desert for just a second.

They had been in the middle of setting up camp for the night when a peeper beetle had suddenly jumped onto the Hunter's mask and lodged its sharp claws into the exposed skin around his eye.

SkekMal roared, having to use both hands to hold the creature's snapping jaws away from his eyeball.

Moving on instinct Rek'yr ran to the Hunter's side, whipped out his knife, and sliced the head of the peeper beetle clean off. As the creature went limp SkekMal yanked the hooked claws out of his face and tossed the remains onto the sand, a heavy trickle of blood pouring from his wounds until it pooled and dripped from beneath the mask.

Rek'yr had to force the Hunter to sit down and remove his mask so he could tend to his wounds.

He was so focused on his task that he didn't even pay attention to the fact that he was seeing the Hunter unmasked for the first time.

When Rek'yr pulled the cloth away the two gashes on the Hunter's eyelids had stopped bleeding.

“Look at me.” He said. SkekMal slowly opened his eye, blinking a few times before focusing on Rek'yr. The Hunter's eye was tinged pink from the blood that had dripped into it but Rek'yr could see nothing wrong with the actual eye itself. He made SkekMal follow his finger with his gaze, moving it from left to right and then up and down, before giving a nod.

“Your eye doesn't appear to be damaged. You were lucky, Hunter.” Lucky that Rek'yr was there, had he been alone he might have lost his eye but neither of them mentioned this fact.

Rek'yr wrapped a bandage around the wounds to keep any sand from getting into them. As he stood with his back to the Hunter to put his supplies back into his pack the Hunter spoke.

“Thank you.”

Rek'yr looked up in surprise.

The Hunter's face was open, honest, without the mask mask to obscure his expression. Perhaps that was part of the reason he wore it, not just to terrify but also to keep people from seeing what he truly felt.

Rek'yr smiled softly.

“You're welcome, SkekMal.”

–

Heavy breaths filled the air as Rek'yr collapsed onto the pile of soft furs. The night air was cool on his hot, sweat slicked skin and his thighs were sore from being spread over wide hips for too long but it was a good ache, something to remind him of the pleasant night he had shared with his companion while he attended to his duties tomorrow.

Speaking of his companion...

SkekMal lay beside him, his heaving breaths loud in the stillness that enveloped them. Rek'yr couldn't help but feel a touch of pride. He'd never seen the Hunter winded before, never even seen him so much as break a sweat but several rounds of (admittedly mind blowing) sex and he was down for the count.

He wondered if that was a first for the Hunter.

Rek'yr rolled over onto his side to face the Skeksis.

“Do you always take your guides as lovers?” He asked, curious.

SkekMal glanced over at him then looked away again. “No.”

Rek'yr smiled. “So I'm the exception then?”

“You talk too much.” SkekMal deflected.

Rek'yr's smile grew. “I can think of a few more enjoyable ways to occupy my mouth.”

The Hunter's eyes flickered to his mouth.

Rek'yr licked his lips, smirked.

SkekMal growled, “Tempting little thing,” and pulled Rek'yr back on top of him.

–

Rek'yr closed his eyes and said a silent prayer over the Hunter's fallen prey. SkekMal rolled his eyes but didn't say anything, he had long since learned there was no point complaining about Rek'yr's habit since the Dousan didn't listen to him anyway.

Rek'yr finished his prayer and turned back to the Hunter who was stripping a large branch to tie his prey to.

SkekMal had asked him to accompany him on a hunt in the Dark Forest today, though clearly the Hunter wasn't in need of his assistance, knowing every stone and tree in the forest and soon SkekMal had tracked down a pack of Elliads, large animals with six legs and antlers that bloomed with big, fragrant flowers.

Usually SkekMal was content to hunt only one or two of his chosen prey but today the Hunter's blood lust wasn't sated until he had taken down a dozen of the large animals.

Rek'yr looked at the center of the clearing where the carcasses were piled high.

SkekMal had hunted enough meat to feed a small army.

“Will you be taking all this meat back with you to the Castle of the Crystal?”

“No.”

Rek'yr tilted his head. “Then what will you do with it? There is too much for one person to eat, even you.”

“I will take what I can carry, the rest I will leave behind for the scavengers.” SkekMal grunted.

Rek'yr frowned. “Don't you think that's a waste? Why hunt for more than you need?”

The Hunter shrugged carelessly.

“They were weak, they didn't deserve to live.”

Rek'yr disagreed, in his eyes all things deserved to live but it was not his place to tell a Lord what to do.

“...as you say, my Lord.” Rek'yr said as SkekMal tied four of the animals to the branch then hauled them onto his shoulders with a grunt and started walking away.

Rek'yr silently followed a step behind.

Just before they left the clearing Rek'yr glanced back over his shoulder at the pile of dead bodies left to rot in the suns, the sight of the needless slaughter leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

As Rek'yr turned back around to follow the Hunter the flowers on the Elliads antlers began to wilt.

–

“You have gone too far this time, Hunter!” Rek'yr shouted at the Hunter's back.

SkekMal scoffed and kept walking. “They were just some Podlings, if they did not wish to die they should not have gotten in the way of my Hunt.”

They had been hunting outside of the Desert again, the two of them pursuing a large Horner to the edge of the Spriton plains. The large creature had burst through the treeline and into the clearing, putting on a burst of speed now that there were no trees to slow it down.

SkekMal followed on all fours, hot on its heels. Rek'yr tried to keep up but the Horner was too fast and he ended up falling back.

Because of this he was the only one that noticed the Horner heading straight for a group of terrified Podlings passing through the field.

He tried to warn the Hunter to stop the Horner before it could trample them but SkekMal didn't react to his cries, too fixated on completing his hunt.

Rek'yr averted his eyes but the sound of the Podlings falling under the Horner's hooves had bile rising in his throat.

In the end the Hunter managed to take down his prey, sparing not even a single glance for the Podlings that died because he had sent a stampeding Horner barreling straight at them.

“Is that all you have to say for yourself? Don't you regret the loss of innocent lives? Is the hunt really all that matters to you?”

“Of course.” SkekMal said without hesitation.

Rek'yr stopped.

“…I see. In that case I will serve as your guide no longer.”

That got the Hunter's attention.

SkekMal turned around, disbelief in his eyes.

“Rek'yr--”

Rek'yr held up a hand. “No. There's nothing you can say that will make me change my mind. If you truly feel no remorse for what transpired today then you really are as cruel and heartless as the stories say.”

Hurt flickered in the Hunter's eyes but the next moment it was swallowed up by anger.

“ _Pah!_ Who cares if a few measly Podlings died! Their lives are inconsequential. Only the Hunt matters.” SkekMal hissed.

Rek'yr shook his head. “Some things are more important than your hunt, SkekMal.”

“Nothing is more important than the Hunt!”

Rek'yr swallowed the sudden lump in his throat.

So that's how it was then. He was a fool to think he actually meant something to the Hunter.

“If that is how you truly feel then our ways part here, Hunter.”

SkekMal narrowed his eyes.

“Fine! I should have known better than to think a mere _Gelfling_ could ever understand the glory of the Hunt! You are just like the rest of your kind, weak and pathetic!” The Hunter snarled before jumping into the trees and disappearing from sight.

Rek'yr stood there for some time but eventually he turned and walked away, ignoring the pain in his chest as he started the long trek back to the desert.

–

Rek'yr spotted the Hunter traversing the sands beneath them, a cold feeling of dread pooling in the pit of his stomach.

It had been thrine since he had last seen the Hunter and his sudden reappearance in the desert could not be mere coincidence, not now.

SkekMal must have been sent to quell the flames of resistance, to stop the heroes of Thra from completing their quest to rally the seven clans.

An ill omen.

Death followed in the Hunter's wake and if he had been sent to pursue the Gelfling Rek'yr was transporting then there was nowhere on Thra they would be safe. Rek'yr had witnessed the Hunter's determination first hand, knew that SkekMal would never give up once he had set his sights on a prey.

Rek'yr urged Bennu to fly faster. If they were lucky the princess and her friends would find whatever it was they were looking for at the Circle of the Suns before the Hunter caught up to them.

All Rek'yr could do now was aid them where he could and hope that the worst did not come to pass.

–

Rek'yr held the Hunter's gaze as SkekMal pressed a blade to his throat and threatened to make him talk by cutting pieces off of him.

“Go ahead! Do you want my hands? They are not mine, they are a gift from Thra. Same as my feet, my head, _my life._ ” Rek'yr said without fear. He was a Dousan and he would face his death with his head held high.

SkekMal removed his blade. Looked at him.

“And his life?”

Before Rek'yr could intervene SkekMal snatched up his clan mate and threw him off the cliff.

Rek'yr gasped as his clan mate's scream was cut off by a sickening splat.

He faced the Hunter with a glare.

He knew SkekMal had only killed his companion to get a rise out of him but Rek'yr would not give him that satisfaction.

“If this is to be the day of our return to Thra then we welcome it, gladly.”

SkekMal growled.

“ _Tell me where they are!_ ”

“The Circle of the Suns!” His other companion supplied, trembling in fear.

“Silence!” Rek'yr shouted, too late. Now that SkekMal knew where the group was he no longer had need of them and there was nothing preventing the Hunter from killing them.

Instead of slitting his throat SkekMal only struck him though, Rek'yr's head hitting the ground hard, his vision going dark.

As Rek'yr lost consciousness he wondered why the Hunter hadn't killed him.

–

When Rek'yr arrived in Stone in the Wood the battle was already won and the celebration well underway. Not all sounds were of revelry though for many had lost loved ones and Gelfling of all different clans were joined together to remember those that had returned to Thra.

Rek'yr found where the rest of his clan had set up camp and met up with his cousin and Maudra. Seethi gently reprimanded him for not staying in the Wellspring to recover from his head injury but after assuring her he was fine she told him of all that had transpired during his absence.

When she reached the part of Mother Aughra's revival and the death of the Hunter Rek'yr's heart gave a painful clench.

Though he'd always known that SkekMal was as mortal as all other creatures on Thra the thought of him actually being dead was hard for Rek'yr to accept. He had seen the Hunter take on creatures ten times his size and come out victorious, had seen him face impossible odds and survive every time.

After a time even Rek'yr had started to believe that nothing could take SkekMal down.

In the end not even the Hunter could escape death though.

Rek'yr left Seethi's tent and wandered aimlessly, his feet taking him to the center of the village.

The Hunter's mask lay where he had fallen, none having dared to move it.

Even in death it would seem the Hunter was still feared.

Rek'yr picked up the mask, running his thumb along the ridge of an empty eye. Though it wasn't the bone mask SkekMal had always worn it was all that remained of the Hunter.

All that Rek'yr had left of him, beside his own memories.

Hiding the mask under his cloak Rek'yr headed into the woods. He walked until the sounds of the gathered clans were replaced by the soft sounds of the animals and other lifeforms that roamed the forest.

Dropping to his knees Rek'yr took out the mask and held it. The mask had been made to resemble the Hunter's old one that had been cracked. Rek'yr had wondered upon their last meeting how it had ended up broken but now he would never know.

There were many things he would never know.

Rek'yr touched the mask to his forehead and closed his eyes.

Even though they had parted on bad terms he couldn't help but grieve for what they had once shared and for what they could have had if things had gone differently.

“Farewell, Hunter.” Rek'yr whispered as a tear rolled down his cheek.

He buried the mask at the foot of a large tree. It felt right for part of the Hunter to be returned to the forest, though SkekMal had terrorized these woods they had been his home for eons as well.

Rek'yr sat back, dirt still clinging to his fingers, and prayed.

SkekMal had always scoffed at his habit, had rejected the notion that the dead needed honoring but even though the Hunter had done terrible things Rek'yr still felt he deserved a proper burial so he could finally be at peace.

Wiping the tears from his face Rek'yr stood, gave a final nod of parting to the grave, and went to rejoin his people.


End file.
